


Fireworks

by Tammaiya



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-25
Updated: 2004-12-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 09:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7839061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tammaiya/pseuds/Tammaiya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuffie thinks Cloud's lovelife needs spicing up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fireworks

Cloud stared at the ticket. Cloud stared at Yuffie. Then he stared at the ticket again.  
  
"You're insane, aren't you," he said after a very long time. "That's the only explanation. I mean, I already knew you were insane, I guess, but this reinforces it."  
  
"Oh, shut up," Yuffie said, rolling her eyes. "I'm totally not. What're you whining about, anyway? Jeez, I do something nice for once and all you do is bitch."  
  
"That's the point!" Cloud said darkly. "You _never_ do anything nice. It has to be a trick."  
  
Yuffie looked rather injured. "Hey, I just thought you seemed kind of down and stuff recently, okay? Think of it as an early birthday present or whatever."  
  
"I don't like the Gold Saucer," Cloud objected. "I practically have a phobia about it!"  
  
"This is about that time Barrett dragged you on that date there, huh?"  
  
Cloud twitched. "Can we not discuss this?"  
  
"The best way to get over a phobia is to replace it with good memories!" Yuffie declared. "So if you go on a _good_ date there, _without_ Barrett, then you'll be fine! You have to get over it, Cloud! It'll so take all the colour out of your life if you can't go to the Gold Saucer. Or what if you have a phobia of dating, too? Never dating again! Now that would _really_ suck."  
  
"Do you ever stop talking?"  
  
"Hey, it's _your_ problem if you don't have anything as interesting as I do to say."  
  
Cloud sighed. "Of course."  
  
"Anyway, the Barrett thing was your own fault, you know. You so should have been nicer to me, and _I'd_ have dragged you out first. It would have been fun!"  
  
Cloud glanced at her suspiciously. "Yuffie, this isn't some kind of hint that you want me to take you out on a date, is it?"  
  
"Ew!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Hell no!"  
  
Cloud was actually slightly offended by that. She didn't have to be so vehement about it.  
  
"You're like my older brother or something! Oh my _God_ that is so wrong."  
  
Oh.  
  
"Besides, you're like, totally gay."  
  
Well, ye-- hang on.  
  
" _What_?"  
  
"Oh, come _on_!" Yuffie exclaimed. "It's so obvious! Do you think I'm some kinda idiot or something, huh, Cloud?"  
  
Cloud very tactfully did not answer that.  
  
"I mean, you've got chicks all over you and you're more interested in chasing after Sephiroth!"  
  
"We're supposed to be chasing after Sephiroth!" Cloud exclaimed helplessly. "That's our entire mission! Or did you forget that?"  
  
"Please, you're totally in love with the guy."  
  
"I am not in love with Sephiroth!"  
  
Yuffie ignored him, as she invariably did when someone said something she didn't want to hear. "Besides, I've seen the way you look at Vincy."  
  
"… Vincy?" Cloud repeated blankly. "You did not just call Vincent Vincy. I did not hear that."  
  
"It's a great nickname! Too bad your name is too short for one. Oh well."  
  
Cloud was suddenly horribly thankful for his monosyllabic name.  
  
"The point is, you should ask him on a date!"  
  
"I can't ask Vincent on a date!" Cloud argued.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"He's _Vincent_."  
  
"So what? Like, at least he's not going to try and kill you if you do, unlike some people." Yuffie paused and tapped a finger against her lips. "Although you never know. I mean, Sephy might say yes if you asked. He's a homicidal maniac, yeah, but he _is_ hot. And I have my suspicions about him. Like, he's kind of obsessed with you, don't you think? Just like you are with him…"  
  
"Sephy," Cloud croaked. "You are a _lunatic_."  
  
"You're just jealous 'cause I'm that much more observant than you are," Yuffie sniffed. "But finding Sephy would be kinda hard anyway, so I guess stick with Vincy."  
  
"Help," Cloud muttered. "Reality locked me out for coming home drunk, and now it won't let me back in."  
  
"Shut up, you baby. Now go! Go ask him out!"  
  
As Yuffie propelled him forcefully towards the door, Cloud wondered why he was letting himself be bossed around by a seventeen-year-old girl. A seventeen-year-old ninja girl with sharp metal things secreted all over her person and the stealing ability of a grand high pickpocket…  
  
Oh yeah. _That_ was why.  
  
~  
  
"Erm, Vincent…"  
  
No response.  
  
"Vincent?"  
  
Vincent looked up from his book and tilted his head enquiringly. "Mm?"  
  
"How do you feel about the Gold Saucer?"  
  
Vincent considered this for a few minutes and shrugged, returning to his book.  
  
Cloud could feel a headache beginning to form. "Alright, I'll rephrase that. How would you feel about going to the Gold Saucer tonight?"  
  
Vincent looked up again and blinked. "Why?"  
  
"Because otherwise I'll never hear the end of it from Yuffie!"  
  
Vincent glanced longingly down at the book and then back up to meet Cloud's pleading eyes. "Pardon?"  
  
"You'll never hear the end of it either," Cloud said desperately, "she'll haunt us both to our graves and beyond!"  
  
"I'll out live her," Vincent pointed out, but much to Cloud's relief he marked his place with his bookmark and closed the book. "You want to go now, I suppose?"  
  
"We'll take the Chocobo," Cloud said gratefully, and left immediately to make arrangements.  
  
Vincent sighed. He hated Chocobos; they were smelly. The feeling was clearly mutual, too, since they went psycho whenever he went near them. They could probably sense the mutation.  
  
He wondered why Yuffie cared about who was going to the Gold Saucer, anyway-- why the Gold Saucer?-- and concluded that he probably didn't want to know.  
  
What a pity for him that he was going to find out regardless.  
  
~  
  
"Tickets?"  
  
Cloud pulled out the tickets and handed them reluctantly to the ticket collector, reflecting that he should have bought that golden pass after all. There was no way Yuffie could have pulled this if he had, so why the hell didn't he?  
  
"Would you like to buy a golden pass for 30000 gil?"  
  
Cloud winced, considering their limited funds. Okay, maybe _that_ was why the hell he didn't.  
  
"No thank you," he said hurriedly, reflexively grabbing Vincent's wrist and dragging him through the gate.  
  
There was a meaningful silence.  
  
"Cloud?" Vincent prompted him.  
  
Cloud looked down, realised he had just dragged Vincent somewhere and then realised he was still holding Vincent's wrist. "Oh, sorry!" he yelped, and let go as if his hand had been burned.  
  
"It's fine," Vincent said quietly. "Why are we here?"  
  
"Yuffie is insane," Cloud explained. "Other than that, I really don't know."  
  
"Ah."  
  
And because Cloud was supposed to be getting over the horror of going on a date with Barrett, but-- he did a quick mental check-- nope, he still didn't want to talk about that.  
  
They stood around awkwardly in the Golden Gate area, both wondering what exactly they were meant to do now.  
  
"Food?" Cloud offered eventually.  
  
"I don't eat," Vincent reminded him.  
  
"Oh," Cloud replied, feeling vaguely like an idiot, because now that he thought about it he actually knew that. "Right. Um."  
  
Vincent studied the lit-up information board. "Battle Square?"  
  
Cloud was about to say yes, but then he imagined what would happen if Yuffie asked him what they'd done and he said they'd killed things.  
  
"Oh, _yeah_ , Cloud, real romantic! No wonder you have no love life! Do I have to do everything for you? Go on another date and this time do it _right_."  
  
"Ah…" Cloud said hesitantly. "No thanks. Chocobo racing?"  
  
Vincent shuddered. "No Chocobos."  
  
Vincent didn't like Chocobos, then. Cloud was vaguely disappointed by that; he was very attached to his Chocobo.  
  
"Wonder-- no."  
  
"The only thing left is the Gondola ride," Vincent said neutrally.  
  
Oh, the Gondola ride. That most traumatic of traumatic memories. Cloud liked Barrett, really-- as a friend! A friend!-- and he sympathised with Barrett's tragic past, but seriously. Did Barrett absolutely have to get so close and, and personal?  
  
Cloud didn't care if he was ruggedly handsome, dammit. There was no excuse. He still had nightmares!  
  
The Gondola ride would bring back bad memories, he predicted darkly. Then again, Yuffie would probably approve. And Vincent was more his type than Barrett.  
  
"Okay."  
  
~  
  
This was in fact kind of nice, in a surreal sort of way. Almost soothing, even. Cloud was in the gondola, there was no Barrett in sight, and Vincent was even hotter close up.  
  
Maybe Yuffie was right about the best way to get over a phobia.  
  
"Look," Cloud said, gesturing towards the window and using it as an excuse to get closer to Vincent. "Fireworks."  
  
Vincent glanced out the window. "Mm."  
  
Cloud turned his head and found himself face to face with Vincent, practically breathing the same air. Hm, he thought, to kiss or not to kiss, that is the question. He _wanted_ to, definitely, but was it worth the risk that Vincent would try to kill him slowly and painfully?  
  
Oh well, it was less than the risk that Sephiroth would impale him if he tried the same thing, and that was good enough for Cloud.  
  
Just move a few inches closer, bring a hand up to clench in Vincent's hair (which was actually as soft as it looked, though somewhat tangled. Then again, that could be Cloud's fault) and Vincent's eyes were amazingly red from this close. Should Cloud have closed his eyes? He should probably have closed his eyes.  
  
"It seemed like a good idea at the time?" Cloud said weakly when he pulled back. Vincent continued to stare at him. "Er. It was the fireworks?"  
  
Vincent glanced out the window with an amused glint in his eyes. "I don't find fireworks to be an aphrodisiac, personally, but to each his own."  
  
"You don't?" Cloud said dumbly, stunned that Vincent seemed to find it funny. "I mean…"  
  
"No," Vincent said. "I don't."  
  
Well, it had been a stupid thing to say, and now Cloud was wondering if there were any way to extricate himself from this complete hole of stupid without embarrassing himself further. He opened his mouth to say something-- he wasn't actually sure what, probably something stupid-- and was abruptly cut off when Vincent kissed him.  
  
"I thought you said fireworks didn't turn you on?" Cloud asked, and was dismayed to find his voice about an octave higher than it was supposed to be. Vincent had him pinned against the seat, he realised belatedly.   
  
"They don't," Vincent repeated, leaning in for another kiss.  
  
"I lied about the fireworks," Cloud said breathlessly when they broke apart again.   
  
"I never would have guessed," Vincent replied, completely deadpan, and started kissing down Cloud's jaw to his neck.  
  
"You don't know how relieved I am that Barrett didn't try this," Cloud added, fingers fumbling with Vincent's headscarf as Vincent unclipped Cloud's belt.  
  
Vincent paused, and Cloud cursed mentally. "Barrett?"  
  
"It's a long story," Cloud muttered, silently cheering as Vincent returned to undoing his clothes, "involving the Gold Saucer and the Gondola and traumatic memories and really there's a lot of things I'd rather be doing than dwelling on it."  
  
"Ah," Vincent said gravely, ignoring Cloud's squeak as his hand worked under the SOLDIER suit, and how could he sound that serious when he was practically feeling Cloud up? "I see."  
  
It took Cloud a very disorientating moment to work out that the reason the world had seemed to spin for a second was that the Gondola had swooped around a bend and Vincent had pushed him on his back.  
  
"There's a window," Cloud said lamely, wondering why he was still talking and if there were anyway to make his mouth just shut up. "Is this a good idea?"  
  
Vincent could have made the point that they were in a single car up in the air with no one close enough to be able to see inside said window, but instead he blinked.  
  
"Does it matter?"  
  
This was an even better point, one which stilled further protests such as 'but how much longer is the ride going to last?' Cloud smirked and pulled Vincent down on top of him, half wriggling out of his uniform.  
  
"Not really, no."  
  
Vincent's claw was in Cloud's hair, his hand on Cloud's hip, his mouth on Cloud's collarbone, so Cloud found he was perfectly happy to twine his arms and legs around Vincent and to stare dazedly up at the wooden ceiling of the cart. Screw common public decency. If they got arrested for public indecency or whatever, they'd… well, Cloud wasn't actually sure what they'd do, but he didn't really care right now. Maybe they'd blame Yuffie.  
  
Vincent's skin was slightly cool, Cloud realised, arching up, or maybe it was just that he was impossibly hot and feverish. Vincent was pressing down against him, and okay, was it just him or was _everything_ getting way too hot? He was babbling something-- hopefully nothing too incriminating or mortifying, though Cloud didn't want to place bets on that and was rather counting on Vincent being distracted enough not to really notice-- and suddenly he was seeing fireworks that had absolutely nothing to do with anything going outside.  
  
They may, however, had something to do with the fact that he'd cracked the back of his head on the edge of the seat falling on the floor when the Gondola came to an abrupt stop.  
  
"What are you _doing_?" a hysterical woman shrieked, tearing open the doors.  
  
Vincent shrugged.  
  
"Oh, sod," Cloud mumbled incoherently, though he couldn't bring himself to regret it that much.  
  
~  
  
When they returned to the airship, both looking very mused and sated and Cloud acting utterly dazed, Yuffie pounced immediately.  
  
"So, did you two have _fun_?"  
  
Her tone of voice left nothing ambiguous about what sort of fun she was referring to. Vincent gave her a blank gaze, but Cloud only blinked sleepily. "Yuffie. Hi."  
  
Yuffie wrinkled her nose. "Ew, go shower, you!" she ordered Cloud, who simply nodded and wandered off-- a clear sign of his bemused state.  
  
Vincent turned as if he was about to leave too and Yuffie grabbed his claw. "Uh uh. Not you, mister! You stay here!"  
  
Vincent sighed long-sufferingly. "Did you want something?"  
  
"Hey, what kind of gratitude is that from someone who just did you a big favour?"  
  
"You did it for Cloud," Vincent said dryly.  
  
"Yeah, so what? Maybe I like Cloud! Do you have a problem with that? Like, you still benefited. Now pay up, buster!"  
  
"For?"  
  
"6000 gil, you jerk!" Yuffie exclaimed, stamping her foot. "Those freakin' tickets don't come cheap!"  
  
"How is this your present to him?"  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Duh, I got him a love life. Now pay up."  
  
Vincent refrained from telling her that technically _he_ was responsible for Cloud getting a love life, responding with pointed silence instead.  
  
Yuffie put her hands on her hips and started tapping her foot. "We'll put it this way: was it worth it?"  
  
Without a word, Vincent handed her the 6000 gil and went to join Cloud.


End file.
